Date night at Little India in Denver is a magical thing. All the more so when you aren’t one of the people on the date.
No, I wasn’t on a date at Little India. My waiter was. With the woman dining solo at the next table over. My mentee, Ingrid, and I waited 15 minutes for the waiter to pour water and take our orders. I only thank God we got to follow the waiter’s playbook line for line the entire time.
Ingrid: I can’t believe he’s hitting on that woman instead of taking our order!
C: Shhh. I need to remember the details for a story I want to write.
Ingrid. Oh good. Another fun mentor/mentee night. I always look forward to these.
C: Stop talking.
When the waiter finally came to our table, he tried to push drinks on us. Beer, wine, cocktails, mixed drinks (aka, cocktails), fruity drinks, specialty drinks—they have it all!
C: No, thank you.
Waiter [turning to Ingrid]: How about you ma’am? We have beer, wine, cocktails, …
C: I’m going to stop you right there. She’s 17. What we’d love to do is order some food. Can we do that?
While waiting for our food, we listened to the waiter hit on the woman some more.
Ingrid: This is fun.
C: I know, right?
When our samosas arrived, they came without plates, so I grabbed the waiter en route to dateland and requested plates and more water. When our dinner came, the naan (bread) was absent. Ten minutes later the naan came out “fresh from the oven,” which is a euphemism for “I was too busy making headway with my new gal pal to remember to bring your entire order.”
When we finished dining, we interrupted the waiter and his date to ask for the check. Again he tried to push drinks on us. Beer, wine, cocktails, mixed drinks, fruity drinks, specialty drinks, …
C: Thanks, no.
Waiter [turning to Ingrid]: How about you ma’am? We have beer, wine, cocktails, …
C: Though this night seems to have gone on forever, years have not magically passed. She is still 17.
Then the waiter left us and returned to the woman’s table to exchange digits.
Ingrid: That was the worst service ever. He should be fired.
C: I agree. I think we both learned something. See? Date night at Little India ended up being another educational evening.
Ingrid: What did you learn?
C: I learned that I am the best mentor ever!
Ingrid: Weird. That’s exactly what I was going to say.
